WILDFLOWERS OF NEW MEXICO

The 1–5 leafy, branching stems reach 3-feet tall with rounded, loose clusters of blue, bell-shaped flowers on the upper half. Bushy colonies form along shady trails, streamsides, and slopes. Note the long pinnately compound leaves with numerous leaflets, like rungs on a ladder.

FLOWERS: June–August. Symmetrical with 5 rounded petals 3/8–3/4-inch (10–20 mm) long, purple to blue, occasionally white, with dark lines and a whitish-green throat. The 5 stamens are shorter than the style and petals.

LEAVES: Alternate, Blades pinnately compound, 1 1/8–4-inches(3–10 cm) long, with 11-27 leaflets, oval to lance-shaped, 3/16–1-inch (5–25 mm) long; smelly when crushed.

HABITAT: Sandy, rocky, riparian soils, roadsides, disturbed areas; mountain meadows, ponderosa-oak, aspen-Douglas fir, spruce-fir forests.

ELEVATION: 6,800–10,600 feet.

RANGE: AZ, CO, ID, NM, NV, UT, WY.

SIMILAR SPECIES: Short Jacob’s Ladder, P. pulcherrimum, in no.-cent. NM mountains, only reaches about 10-inches tall.

NM COUNTIES: Widespread in mountains at mid- to high-elevation, moist habitats: Bernalillo, Catron,  Cibola, Colfax, Grant, Lincoln, Los Alamos, Mora, Otero, Rio Arriba, San Juan, San Miguel,  Santa Fe, Sandoval, Sierra, Socorro, Taos, Torrance.